History will acquit me

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Castro after his arrest, July 1953

The story will acquit me (Spanish original title La historia me absolverá ) is the later chosen title of the defense speech that Fidel Castro made as a plea when he was brought to justice on October 16, 1953 for the attack he organized on the Moncada barracks has been.

Origin of the text

Castro's plea , held on October 16, had to work out almost without legal reference books. He was also unable to write down his speech, which is why he was forced to give the entire speech freely. On the basis of his speech, Castro later wrote in prison a text that was expanded to include numerous detailed quotations from prominent representatives of Western intellectual history, which he then smuggled out of custody in parts, printed by circumventing censorship and, from autumn 1954, in the underground as a kind of first manifesto of the Cubans Let the revolution spread. Castro had already written another programmatic pamphlet several months earlier, which he sent in December 1953 by letter to the journalist Luis Conte Agüero , who supported him , who edited it on Castro's behalf and distributed it from January 1954. The work conceived by Castro as a “Manifesto to the Nation” under the title Message to Cuba, That Suffers did not, however , develop the broad impact Castro had hoped for.

The published version ends with the famous words, “Judge me, it doesn't matter. History will acquit me ”. This final sentence has therefore been used as the title since the first printed edition. The first edition contained a foreword by the respected intellectual Jorge Mañach , which was no longer used for later editions after Mañach went into exile in 1960 in protest against Castro's pro-communist turnaround in political policy, as he had before under Batista. The preface contained, among other things, the misinformation given to Mañach that the text was a verbatim original transcript of the defense speech given in court.

content

Castro made no attempt in his speech to deny his involvement in the attack on the Moncada barracks or his intentions with regard to it. Rather, it was his aim to legitimize this attack by accusing the Batista dictatorship .

So he first began to criticize irregularities in the course of the trial and then went on to denounce the murder and torture of his captured militants.

After describing the procedure in the attack on the Moncada barracks, Castro mentions the revolutionary laws which he wanted to have broadcast over the radio after a successful attack. According to him, these revolutionary laws, reformist rather than revolutionary , should have reintroduced the 1940 constitution . In addition, according to this law, the smallholders should be allocated the land they leased as property. The law also provided for factory workers to share a percentage of the profits of their businesses. The same should apply to leasing farmers. Furthermore, the Revolutionary Act would have stipulated the confiscation of misappropriated funds and goods.

Castro then addressed the abuses prevailing in Cuba such as illiteracy and poor housing conditions, blaming both Batista's dictatorship and corruption .

Finally, Castro went on to declare Batista's coup and thus his rule illegal. For this reason, Castro was able to invoke Article 40 of the Constitution (from 1940) to resist an illegitimate government. At the same time, Castro demonstrated in this way that his attack was not a forbidden uprising against the constitutional powers, since Batista's regime was not constitutional. He also criticized the judiciary , which did nothing against Batista's constitutional violations.

The Presidio Modelo prison on Isla de Pinos , where Castro was imprisoned after the trial

Historical classification

Five days after the unsuccessful attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1953, Castro and some comrades were taken by surprise and arrested by a military patrol.

In the run-up to the trial in which Castro was charged with organizing and conducting an armed uprising, around 60 captured rebels were tortured and murdered in prisons.

The trial of Castro and some of his campaigners began on September 21, 1953 and ended on October 16 of the same year. In the course of this, a total of 29 fighters were sentenced to three, ten and thirteen years' imprisonment. Fidel Castro himself was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

After a year and seven months imprisonment on Isla de Pinos , Fidel Castro was released on May 15, 1955 under public pressure and went into exile in Mexico on July 7 .

Expenses (selection)

  • History will acquit me . Rotbuch, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86789-061-8 .
  • History will acquit me . Hinder and Deelmann, 1968
  • History will acquit me . Publishing house of the Institute for Geosociology and Politics, 1965

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fidel Castro, Volker Skierka: History will acquit me. Rotbuch, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86789-061-8 , pp. 112-113.
  2. ^ De la Cova: The Moncada Attack , pp. 236f.
  3. ↑ Fidel Castro: Mensaje a Cuba que sufre , short excerpts from the widespread manifesto, in: Bohemia of July 24, 1970, accessed via Cedema.org on July 31, 2013 (Spanish)
  4. ↑ Jorge Mañach: Breve introducción a 'La Historia me absolverá' , republished in: La Jiribilla of December 5, 2009, accessed on August 19, 2013 (Spanish)
  5. ↑ Fidel Castro, Volker Skierka: History will acquit me. Rotbuch, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86789-061-8 , pp. 10-19, pp. 69-76.
  6. ↑ Volker Skierka: Fidel Castro. Rowohlt 2008, ISBN 978-3-499-61386-9 , p. 52.
  7. ↑ Fidel Castro, Volker Skierka: History will acquit me. Rotbuch, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86789-061-8 , pp. 39-41.
  8. ↑ Fidel Castro, Volker Skierka: History will acquit me. Rotbuch, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86789-061-8 , pp. 43-49.
  9. ↑ Fidel Castro, Volker Skierka: History will acquit me. Rotbuch, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86789-061-8 , p. 85.
  10. ↑ Fidel Castro, Volker Skierka: History will acquit me. Rotbuch, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86789-061-8 , pp. 18-19.
  11. ↑ Fidel Castro, Volker Skierka: History will acquit me. Rotbuch, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86789-061-8 , p. 90.
  12. ↑ Volker Skierka: Fidel Castro. Rowohlt 2008, ISBN 978-3-499-61386-9 , p. 51.
  13. ↑ Fidel Castro, Volker Skierka: History will acquit me. Rotbuch, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86789-061-8 , p. 112.
  14. ↑ Volker Skierka: Fidel Castro. Rowohlt 2008, ISBN 978-3-499-61386-9 , p. 52.
  15. ↑ Volker Skierka: Fidel Castro. Rowohlt 2008, ISBN 978-3-499-61386-9 , p. 55.
  16. ↑ Volker Skierka: Fidel Castro. Rowohlt 2008, ISBN 978-3-499-61386-9 , p. 56.